Rain or shine, buyers flock back to Gold Coast

After years of price falls and slow sales, buyers have flocked back to the struggling Gold Coast property market, purchasing the majority of properties at what is traditionally the nation’s biggest auction.

More than 1400 people braved cyclonic weather on the coast on Sunday for the auction by Ray White Surfers Paradise.

The firm’s chief executive, Andrew Bell, said 70 of the 103 properties sold under the hammer, which was the best result in six years.

Anchorage Terrace, Sanctuary Cove.

And despite reports that many buyers were eager to take advantage of price falls, the majority of properties “by a country mile” sold for more than the reserve, Mr Bell said.

“I don’t think it was a day of bargains, it was a day of equilibrium where the prices were fair and sellers were happy. It’s been five years since we’ve had that.”

Mr Bell said the auction followed a more than threefold jump in sales for off-the-plan and new apartments since Boxing Day, compared with the same period last year.

Anchorage Terrace, Sanctuary Cove.

“For me it’s the difference between day and night … it’s like the lights got turned on after Christmas,” he said.

“If the Gold Coast can turn on that auction figure I think it bodes well for the rest of the country.”

Some of the properties that sold on Sunday included an entire block of 14 apartments, sold individually for between $170,000 and $245,000, and a $2 million waterfront mansion at Sanctuary Cove, the top-priced property.

The value of some homes on the troubled coastal strip have halved since 2007 and data from Australian Property Monitors shows the median house price in Surfers Paradise fell 33 per cent in a year. Apartment prices dropped 5 per cent. Property can sit on the market for months – even years.

While it was still too early to be talking about recovery, Sunday’s result showed that prices had stopped falling, he said.

“I’ve got no hesitation in saying the market has bottomed,” Mr Bell said.

“As to what degree it comes back … I hope it comes back in a sane way.”

The big test for the top end of the Gold Coast market comes on Thursday when 11 properties will go under the hammer.